These five films are my picks for the best movies of 2024, ranked by formal ambition, performances, thematic and emotional force, tonal control, and how strongly they recur across critics’ year-end lists. “Masterpiece” is a critical judgment here, not an official consensus label.
For eligibility, I’m using films included in U.S.-focused 2024 year-end lists, including theatrical, virtual, and—in Metacritic’s case—direct-to-streaming or digital releases. Release calendars differ by country, so another market or publication may classify a film in a different year. The order below is an editorial ranking, not a universal verdict.
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5. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Radu Jude’s film earns its place through a fierce, deliberately unruly portrait of work, media, and contemporary life. Its critical standing is unusually strong across different kinds of lists: Metacritic named it the overall movie of the year on its 2024 best-reviewed list, while IndieWire ranked it ninth and Sight & Sound placed it twenty-second.
That range matters. Metacritic’s list is an aggregate of weighted scores from top professional critics; the other placements come from polls. The film’s presence across all three suggests more than a single outlet’s enthusiasm, while its lower poll positions keep this ranking from treating an aggregate score as a definitive artistic verdict. Slate critic Sam Adams, quoted on Metacritic’s page, described it as a film that could show a future visitor what it felt like to be alive now.
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4. Nickel Boys
RaMell Ross’s adaptation stands out for making visual perspective central to its storytelling. The first-person approach, noted in Associated Press film writer Jake Coyle’s account, is not just a stylistic flourish: it shapes how the viewer encounters the characters and their world.
That formal distinctiveness is matched by considerable critical recognition. Coyle ranked Nickel Boys second on his AP year-end list, and IndieWire’s critics’ poll placed it third. I put it below the top three because the films above combine similarly strong recognition with a particularly forceful balance of form, character, and tonal command.
3. The Brutalist
Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist brings an expansive sense of scale to a story shaped by ambition, displacement, and the drive to make something lasting. Its place in critics’ rankings is impressive across contrasting methods: IndieWire’s poll put it second, while Sight & Sound ranked it twentieth.
Rank #2
- Movie dvd
The gap between those positions is a useful reminder that a poll’s voters and a list’s construction affect the result. I rank it third for its formal ambition and thematic reach, while placing two more intimate, concentrated films ahead of it. Its recognition is substantial, but no single ranking can settle how its scale and ideas will endure.
2. Anora
Sean Baker’s Anora pairs a tightly focused character story with a tone that can shift sharply without losing control. That combination helps explain its repeated appearance near the top of 2024 lists: IndieWire’s critics’ poll ranked it first, AP writer Jake Coyle put it third, and Sight & Sound placed it second.
Those results make Anora one of the clearest consensus choices in this group. It lands at number two in my ranking because another film’s quieter formal choices and emotional accumulation feel even more lasting to me; that distinction is an interpretive judgment, not a claim that the polls establish a shared number-one film.
Rank #3
1. All We Imagine as Light
Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light takes the top place for the way its visual and emotional approach gives everyday experience room to resonate. Its critical recognition is broad: Sight & Sound ranked it first, AP film writer Jake Coyle also placed it first, and IndieWire’s poll put it fourth.
That combination of two first-place finishes and a top-five poll result makes it an especially defensible choice for number one, though the evidence does not turn “masterpiece” into an objective category. The film’s distinction in this ranking is the way its formal sensibility and human concerns reinforce each other rather than compete for attention.
Why year-end rankings disagree
“Best films of 2024” can mean different things depending on who is choosing and what counts as a release. Metacritic’s 2024 list covers films released from January 1 through December 31, 2024 in at least one U.S. theater or directly to streaming or VOD/digital services. It requires at least seven professional reviews and ranks films using a weighted average of scores from top professional critics before rounding.
Other lists are built differently. IndieWire says its poll was voted on by 177 film critics and journalists. Film Comment’s poll covers its contributors’ 20 best films released theatrically or virtually in the United States in 2024 and includes critical appreciations. Sight & Sound published a 50-film ranking. Rotten Tomatoes’ annual awards use an adjusted weighted ranking that factors in Tomatometer ratings and the number of critic reviews; its 2024 Best Movies award went to Dune: Part Two.
These methods answer related but distinct questions: which films critics scored highly, which titles poll voters favored, which films contributors chose, or which film won a particular awards formula. Rotten Tomatoes’ Certified Fresh editorial guide is another kind of resource, not a single ranked top-five list. Its Close Your Eyes entry calls the film “A near-masterpiece” and lists its eligibility as 2023, illustrating how release-year framing can differ across markets and guides.
How to read this ranking
- Recognition: Repeated high placements across different lists matter more here than a single number-one result.
- Craft and form: The ranking considers how visual choices, scale, tone, and storytelling work together, not ambition alone.
- Character and impact: Performances, character work, thematic depth, and emotional force help distinguish the films.
- Release frame: The list uses U.S.-focused 2024 eligibility; a different country’s release schedule can change what counts as a 2024 movie.
On that basis, All We Imagine as Light, Anora, and The Brutalist have especially strong cross-list support, while Nickel Boys and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World round out a shortlist supported by more than one source. The order is my considered ranking of that group, not a claim that year-end lists have produced one settled answer.
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